Typewriting machine



June 12, 19123. 1,458,125 r E. E. BARNEY TYPEWRITING I MACHINE Filed No v. 5. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES INVENTUR 6 WZWMM EM LI:

4;? a c H 7 M HIS ATTEIRNEY Patented June 12, 1923,

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EDWIN E. BARNEY, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'IO REMINGTON TYPE- WRITER COMPANY, OF ILION, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TYPEWRITING- MACHINE.

Application filed November 5, 1921. Serial No. 513,112.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN E. BARNEY citizen of the United States, and resident of New Rochelle, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to type actuating mechanism for typewriting machines, and its main object is to provide new and improved type bar operating mechanism wherein noise is reduced to a minimum.

To the above and other ends which will hereinafter appear my invention consists in the features of construction, combinations of devices, and arrangements of parts to be hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred formI provide a set of pivoted type bars each of which is connected with its key lever by a linkage or jointed connections, the usual type bar rest or back stop being dispensed with and the type bar being mounted or arranged so that at its type end it hangs unsupported in normal position, a back, stop being provided for one element of the train .J, o a of actuatlng connectlons. In the present 1n-- stance this back stop is arranged to arrest the key lever, said stop resisting the gravity of the freely suspended or hanging type bar. The construction is such that the energy of the type bar in falling from printing position is absorbed in part first by the inter mediate jointed connections and finally by the stop for the key lever, the construction greatly reducing the noise incident to the arrest of the type bar mechanism on "its return movement. To minimize the noise of the type actuating mechanism during the printing stroke or last art of-type movement, there is interposed in the path of the type bar a piece of yielding material, in the present instance rubber, that is arranged in a seat in the type bar support or segment, said rubber being arc-shaped and adapted I to be struck by each type bar as it nears the end of its movement towards the platen. The rubber buffer device is compressible by the type baruntil the latter is arrested by the platen, the construction being such that part of the energy of the-striking type bar is absorbed by the rubber which also takes out'of the type bar the vibrations incident to it in the course of its printing stroke.

The force of the impact being thus lessened the noise is correspondingly reduced; and

moreover the print is clear-cut because the 1gibrations have been taken out of the type My invention will be more particularly. described in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a front to rear vertical sectional view of a typewriting machine em bodying the invention, only so much of said machine being shown as is necessary to a clear understanding of the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional View taken on planes indicated by the dot-and-dash line 11 in Fig. 1.

Figure 3' is a fragmentary plan view partly in section and drawn to an enlarged scale showing certain parts of the actuating mechanism for the type bar. I

Figure 4 is a fragmentary operating view showing the parts as related when the type bar is close to the printing point.

My present invention may be employed invarious styles of typewriting machines and in the drawing is shown adapted to a machine of the character more fully disclosed in the joint application of JohnH. Barr and Edwin E. Barney, Sr. No. 403,780, filed August 16, 1920, and in my prior application Sr. No. 419,745, filed October 26, 1920, now Patent No. 1,414,166, dated April 25, 1922. As appears from Fig. 1 the main frame of said machine-comprises side plates 1 connected at the rear by across plate 2" and at the front by a U-shaped frame part 3 which encloses the keyboard. Above the main frame'is mounted a traveling carriage (not shown) carrying a platen4. Co-operative with the front face of said platen are type bars or printing instrumentalities 5 which are "arranged in an arc of a circle below the platen and are normally horizontally disposed, being provided at their free ends each with a type block having two types, one lower case and the other upper case. 'At their rear the set of type bars are pivoted on a common arcuate pivot wire 6,

-eachtype bar being received in a radial slot the bracket member being vertically arranged behind the type bar segment and being curved to conform to the curve of the segment. Centrally the bracket 9 is provided with a downwardly curving arm 11 and at its sides has outwardlyextending lugs 12 to which are connected by shoulder screws 13 horizontal arms-or links 14 secured to a rock shaft 15. Said rock shaft extends from side to side of the machine and is formed with a depressed portion 15 to accommodate the spring drum shaft (not shown) and other parts. The rock shaft bears on pivot pins16 projecting inward from the side plates 1 and the construction in effect provides a rock shaft and a pair of crank arms which support and guide the shiftable element comprising the bracket 9 and the type bar segment 8. The heads of adjustable guide screws 17 secured in the side frames 1 co-operate with the outer faces of the lugs 12 to prevent undue side-shake of the shiftable member. The guiding and controlling of said member is further assisted by devices comprising a link or arm 18 pivotally connected at 19 to the curved arm 11 of the bracket 9, the rear end of said link fitting loosely over a rock shaft 20 Sup ported on the main frame. Contiguous to the link on the rock shaft is fixed a crank arm 21 which extends forward and co-operates with a latch 22 pivoted at 23 on the link 18, the free end of the crank arm 21 00- operating with said latch above its pivot. The latch 22 is provided with a spring 24 which maintains it normally engaged with and overlying a latch plate 25 secured to a ledge on a sub-frame 26 which is rigid on the main frame. The shiftable type bar support is thus normally maintained latched in its lifted or normal position so that the inner or lower case types on the type bars 5 may co-operate with the printing face of the platen. In other words, the lifted or upper position of the segment is its lower case position. A stop screw 27 on the arm 11 co-operates with the ledge of the subframe 26 to assist in maintaining the shift frame in normal position, and a second stop screw 28 on said arm 11 co-operates with said stop frame to limit the extent of the shift, said stop arresting the type bar support or segment when it is depressed to bring the upper case types into position for use. Springs 29 assist to restore the shift able type bar element from lowermost (or upper case) position to its upper (or lower case) position. The key connections for effecting the shift are preferably of the character disclosed in the aforesaid application, Sr. No. 403,780 and co-operate with the rock shaft 20 to effect a release of the latch 22 and the downward movement of the shiftable parts.

Referring to the type bar and its actuating mechanism, the type bar itself is provided with a tail portion 5 which extends downward and rearward from'the pivot 6 forming with the Body of the bar an opening or gap indicated by the numeral 30. The type bar has connected to it at the end of its portion or heel 5 a short link 31, the connection being provided by a lever pin 32 carried by the bar and having an elongated head 33, said opening co-operating with a key-hole slot indicated at 34 formed in the rear end of the link, and extending lengthwise thereof, so that when the link is operatively connected with its pin 32 said slot is disposed substantially at right angles with the head 33, which thus prevents disconnection of the link. When however the slot 34 is caused to register with the head 33 of the pin, said link may be readily slipped off the pin and thus disconnected from the type bar. The link 31 extends forward in substantial parallelism with the body of the type bar 5 and is pivotally connected by a shoulder pin 35 with the rear end of the long arm 36 of a bell crank lever which further comprises a short arm 37. The ion arm 36 normally extends in substantia parallelism with the body of the type bar 5 and its pivotal connection 35 with the link 31 is normally at or in the mouth of the gap 30 in the type bar. The set of bell cranks 36, 37 are arranged in radial planes in substantial conformity with their asaciate type bars 5 and arevsupported on a common arcuate fulcrum wire 38 which is mounted on a curved or arcuate support 39, the rear face of said support being provided with guide slots indicated at 40 in each of which one ofthe bell cranks 36, 37 is received. The support 39 is secured at its ends by screws 41 to arms 42 extending forward from the sides of the segment 8 and fixedly secured thereto by the screws 10. It will i be observed that the bell crank support is thus mounted on the type bar segment so that the bell cranks 36, 3'7 and the links 31 will participate in the case shifting 'move-' Further, it will be ments of the type bars. noted that the support 39 is so shaped and disposed that the free ends of the type .bars 5 do not at any time rest on or cont-act with it, said type bars at their free ends, .i. e., the ends opposite from their connected ends, being unsupported or hangin free. Connected to the lower ends of t e short bell crank arms 37 are the forward ends of horizontally disposed links 43, the rear end of each link being pivotally connected to an angular; lever 44. The set of levers 44are arranged in parallelism in fore-and-aft planes and pivoted on a common straight fulcrum rod 45 which is mounted on the sub-frame 26, the angular levers 44 being guided in parallel guide slots 46 formed in i said sub-frame. headed lateral pin 47 which engages in a Each, lever 44 carries a} slot 48 formed in the rear end of a key lever 49, the set of key levers being disposed in parallel fore-and-aft planes and pivotedon rods 50 mounted on the sub-frame 26. Each key lever at its forward end terminates in a stem portion which is provided with a key cap or button 51, the key levers being received in and guided by the slots in comb plates 52 and 53 which are mounted on the frame part 3. A pad or rest 54 which may.

levers and having its end portions undercut,

as will be understood from Fig. 2, to provide cars 56 which receive contacts or hollow screws 57 threaded into the ears from the under side. The bore of each hollow screw is tapped to receive the shank of a headed screw'58 which passes downward through a hole formed in the comb plate 53, said plate which is suitably secured to the frame part 3 also providing a cover for the forward portions of the key levers. By the described construction the stop bar and its sound deadening facing 54 are adjustably sup-' ported on the frame'of the machine above the key levers, it being apparent that the further-the hollow screws are threaded up through the ears 56 the lower will the, stop 28 be adjusted and the sooner will the key levers be arrested during their return movements. the key levers will strike its facing 54 before the type bars can contact with the under-lying curved member 39 and just prior to the point at which the long arms 36 of the bell cranks and their associate links 31 would be broughf into alignment, said arms and links, as will be plain from Fig. 1, being normally at a very slight angle.

The construction is such that the hanging or suspended type'bars exert through the force of gravity a tension or pull on their connected trains of actuating devices to assist in maintaining the key levers in contact with the back stop 54. F urther, to assist in restoring the type bar actuating mechanism in maintaining the key levers 49 against their stop 54, I may provide and preferably do provide restoring springs, one spring 59 for each type bar and its train. Said spring is preferably of coiled wire .Jand is hooked at its inner end over a latch piece 60 which is pivoted at 61 to the associatebell crank arm 37iand insure sthe maintenance of the The stop bar 55 is so adjusted that connection between the associate link 43 and said arm, said latch having the further function of transmitting the pull of the spring 59 to the bell crank and all other elements of the linkage. At its forward end each spring is hooked over and anchored to an anchor plate 62 which is supported on arms or projections 63 mounted on the support 39.

To minimize the noise due to the striking of the types against the platen or the paper thereon and also to improve the type action I preferably provide a yielding contact device or buffer which is arranged in the path of the type bars in such position that they will engage with it they near the ends of their printing strokes. In the present instance the yielding contact device 64 is preferably made of a single piece of rubber which is arc-shaped, being concentric with the type bar pivots, and is mounted directly on the type bar segment 8. Said segment is grooved or undercut as indicated at 65 to provide a seat in which the contact piece 64 is arranged. Viewed in cross section the sides of the contact piece taper from the base and the undercut is so shaped that the contact piece seats in it in a manner similar to one side of a dove-tail. In order to maintain the contact piece securely on the segment or support an arc-shape or segmental securing plate :66 of metal is arranged above the contact piece and is secured to the face of the segment by screws 67. The under face of the plate 66 is preferably shaped in conformity with the upper tapered side of the contact piece so as to complete the dove-tail arrangement and more securely maintain the rubber buffer in place with its back in contact with the segment. The

, plate 66is of such width that its upper edge underlies the bottom of the type guide 68 which is secured to the front of the segment near its top by screws 69. It will be observed that the contact piece or buffer 64 projects forward beyond the front face of the segment so thatthe front or contact face of said piece is in a plane forward of the segment. This contact face or plane vertical surface is so disposed that the advancing type bar will engage with it just before the type strikes the platen, say one-sixteenth of an inch before, the result being that after engagement of the type bar with the contact piece the type bar will compress said piece and will continue to do so until it strikes the platen. In other words, after engagement, the yielding cushion or contact element 64 is continuously compressible by the type bar.

It will be observed that in the present type action the slotted type bar of the prior construction illustrated in the aforesaid applications has been replaced by a type bar ill vide a gap with the body of the bar, and that a short link has been provided to connect the heel portion with the longer arm of the bell crank. The motion transmitted from the bell crank arm to the type bar approximates the motion transmitted to the type bar of the prior construction from the pin on the bell crank through the cam slot. n the present construction the initial stage of the type bar movement is slow, its middle stage is comparatively rapid, and its final stage is somewhat slower thus reducing the noise of contact with the platen. During the movement of the type bar and its linkage or jointed connections the link 31 will swing upward into the gap 30 in the type bar towards the type bar pivot, and when the type bar is close to the printing point the joint 35 will be close to the top or closed end of the gap which. however, is so shaped that the head of the pin 35 which is partly in the plane of the type bar Will not contact with it. Not only will the noise of the striking type bar be lessened because of its decrease in speed due to the action of its linkage. but part of the energy of the advancing type bar will be consumed in compressing the rubber of the buffer device or pad (S-l. thus further lessening the striking force and consequent noiseof the type on its con tactive engagement with the platen. Also. any vibration or quivering of the type bar when rapidly operated will be taken out by its contactive engagement with the rubber. resulting in a clear impression on the paper. The yielding buffer or cushion 64 in the present instance being composed of a resilientmaterial, this in its. compressed condition will act somewhat like a spring assisting to increase the speed at which the striking type bar will rebound from the face of the platen. During the latter stage of the return movement of the type bar the linkage or train of connections will tend gradually to slow it down. the elements of the linkage also slowing down so that the parts will not be movingrapidly when arrested. The type bar itself is not arrested by any stop so that the noise incident to such an arrest is eliminated. The fixed pad or cushioned stop for the key lever is the only stop that is engaged by the type bar mechanism to effect the arrest thereof. and since the kev lever has only a slight movement. some five-eighths of an inch. as compared with the long six inch drop or swing of the type bar, the shock of contact of the moving part, i. e., the key lever, with its stop, is very light and the usual noise from the arrest of the type bar mechanism is much reduced. It will be noted that the outstretched or hanging type bars exert a pull or tension on their trains of actuating mechanism and also tend to maintain said trains in contact with the key lever back stop which resists the gravity of the hanging type bar; that in so far as the type action proper is concerned a back stop might be employed for the type bar itself without interfering with the operation of the type action, although of course it is preferred not to employ such stop as great advantages result from dispensing with it; that the type bar buffer or cushion is applied directly to the support or segment instead of its being the type bars 5, the bell cranks 3G, 37 and the links 31 to shift downward without changing their relative disposition or relationships;- that the forward end portions of the links 43 will participatein the case shifting movement, said links pivoting on their points of connections with the levers 44- as centers. said levers 44 themselves not being affected by case shifting movements; that the case shifting movement carries the links 43 to an angular position below the. horizontal. corresponding with a normal angular position above the horizontal illustrated in Fig. 1; and that on the return shifting movement from upper to lower case a reversal of the described operation will take place, the levers 44 together withthe key levers 49 not being affected by the shift. but the rest of the train of type bar actuating devices including the links 43, bell cranks 36, 37, links 31 and type bars 5 participating in such shifting movement.

Various changes may be made without departing from my invention.

\Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. In a front strike typewriting machine, the combination of a pivoted type bar, a key lever. and jointed connections therebetween, the type bar being mounted or arranged to hang unsupported in normal position.

2. In a front strike typewriting machine; the combination of a pivoted type bar, a key lever, jointed connections therebetween. the type bar being mounted or arranged to hang unsupported in normal position, and a stop at the key lever for resisting the gravity of the hanging type bar.

3. In a front strike typewr'iting machine, the combination of a pivoted type bar. a key lever, jointed connections therebetween, the type bar being mounted or arranged to hang unsupported in normal position, and a stop at the key lever for resisting the gravity of the hanging type bar, the energy of the type loov . ees,

bar in falling from printin position being absorbed in part first by t e intermediate jointed connections and finally by said key ever stop.

4. In a front strike typewriting machine, the combinationof a pivoted type bar, a key lever, and jointed connections between the type bar and key lever, the type bar While in normal position hanging free and being always under the influence of the force of gravity.

5. In a front striketypewriting machine,

the combination of a pivoted type bar, a

key lever, jointed connections therebetween, and a stop at'the key lever; the t pe bar while in normal position hanging fine and being always under the influence of the force of gravity which is resisted in part by the jointed connections and in part by the key lever stop. i

6. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a pivoted type bar hanging normally unsupported at its type end, a key operated train of connections for swinging the type bar to the printing point, and a stop for'one of the elements .of said train, the weight of the unsupported type bar assisting to maintain said last mentioned element in normal contactwith its stop.

7. In a front strike typewriting machine,

the combination of a platen, a pivoted type bar, a pivoted key lever, a stop for said key lever, connections, between said key lever and said type bar; and a restoring spring, said type bar being normally unsupported at its free end and assisting said spring to maintain said key lever in contact with its sto 8 Type bar actuating mechanism for typewriting machines, comprising a lever having an arm extending substantially parallel with the body of the type bar, and a link pivotally connected with the heel of the type bar and with the free end of said lever arm, the pivotal connection between the link and leverswinging in towards the pivot of thedtype bar when the mechanism is actuate 9. Ina front strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a set of pivoted type bars arranged in an are below the platen and having their type ends normally hanging free, a set of horizontally arranged key levers, connections between said type bars and said key levers, and a key lever stop extending transversely of said set of key 1evers, said type bars normally assisting to maintain said key levers in contactive en gagement with said stop.

10. In a front strike typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a set of pivoted type bars arranged man are below the platen and having t eir type ends normally hanging free, a set of horizontally arranged key levers, connections between said type bars and said key levers, and a stop provided with.

key lever, and restoring springs, each connected to one of the elements of said connections, said type bars assisting said springs to maintain the key levers normally in contact with said facing.

12. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a type bar support,

. type bars mounted thereon, and a solid rubber contact device having its sides tapering from its base and dove-tailed into a seat in said support, one side of said seat being detachable to permit removal of said rubber contact device, said rubber device being engageable' by said type bars near the ends of theirprinting movements.

13. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a type bar scent, type bars on said segment, a contact device of rubber arranged in a seat in said segment, said seat being undercut at one side, and a segmental securing plate applied to said rubber device to maintain it in engagement with the undercut portion of said seat.

14. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a type bar scent, type bars on said segment, a contact device of rubber arranged in a seat in said segment, said seat being undercut at one side, and a segmental securing plate screwed to said segment and under-cut oppositely from the undercut in said seat, said plate maintaining the rubber device in place on said segment, said rubber device having side portions shaped in conformity with-the undercut portions of said seat and of said plate.

15, In a front strike typewriter having a i Y the combination of a platen, a set of pivoted type bars arranged in an are, below the Iplaten and having their type ends normally anging free, a set of horlzontally arranged key levers, connections between said type bars and said key levers comprising a set of sub-levers and a set of links, said links being connected at one set of their ends to the heels of the type bars and at the other set of their ends to the free ends of the sublevers, and means for stopping the set of key levers and against Which means said key levers normally bear, the construction and arrangement being such that the return m0 mesaea tion of each type bar is slowed down and I its travel limited so that in normal position the type ends of all of the t pe bars lie suspended in a practically uni orm curve.

Signed at the borough of- Manhattan, city of New York, in the county of Nevv York and State of New York this 4th day of November, A. D. 1921,

EDWIN E. BARNEY Witnesses CHARLES E. SMITH LILLIAN NELsoN. 

